Book Recommendations

Do you like books? Ohh, sure you do!

There's a lot of good political books out- dozens and dozens. When I go to the New Non-Fiction table at Barnes & Nobles, it's all current affairs books, half of them about the war in Iraq. Outside of that whimsical Harry Potter fellow, these are the only books I read. I'm a big nerd for this stuff. So I decided to post some recommendations for my reader(s)... Two of the books are out now, one (the Greenwald one) is due out soon.

Book #1- Crashing The Gate


I'm reading this book now and it's fantastic. Besides just the main goal of playing up the importance of netroots/grassroots movements, it's a two-part indictment: One of the conservatives destroying our nation's values; and one of the unfocused Democratic establishment too fragmented to stop it from happening. This book is one of the best summaries of our modern political landscape I've read. It sums up the problems both parties face, how they got there, and how that can be changed. Top recommendation. Here's my review in a nutshell, use it on the back cover of the paperback- "A literary call to arms for the complacent DC Democratic establishment!".... From the intro:

Five years ago, the Republicans took over the government through nondemocratic means. Establishment Democrats, for the most part, stood back and watched as a partisan judicial body halted the counting of presidential votes. While conservative activists led the charge on behalf of their party, there was nothing happening on our side. That was the spark. Fed-up progressives activists began organizing online. Fueled by the new technologies- the web, blogging tools, internet search engines- this new generation of activists challenged the moribund Democratic Party establishment. We didn't have the money, the connections, or the pedigree to break into the insular world of traditional politics. But in the democratic world of online activism, we didn't need those things to be heard.

Book #2- How Would A Patriot Act?: Defending American Values From A President Run Amok


This quick-to-press book by blogger Glenn Greenwald is meant to expose more people to the debate over the warrantless NSA program and, in turn, the lawless behavior of a President with little to no respect for the basic values of our nation. Glenn has been on this story like white on a Republican since December and his blog posts have been the best coverage of it around (outside the NY Times' original reporting, natch). Not sure how many people will get this book, but hopefully people will see the book in stores, look at the Statue of Liberty on the cover, then read about George W. Bush inside, and realize the two represent two completely different things. In a new post, Glenn explains why he made this book (it wasn't for the money; he's barely breaking even):

At its core, this scandal is not and has never been about the scope of eavesdropping powers which the Government ought to have. It is much more significant than that. We face a genuine and profound crisis as a country because we have a President who has continuously exploited the threat of terrorism and engaged in rank fear-mongering in order to expressly claim the power to act without any checks or limits at all -- including, literally, the power to break the law. And he has been exercising that law-breaking power aggressively and enthusiastically in numerous ways, all of which are radically changing our national political character and the system of government that we have had since our founding.

Book #3- Hell In A Handbasket


Sometimes, the best way to deal with the insanity that is today's political landscape... is to laugh at it. Tom Tomorrow makes that possible. Most political cartoons you see in the paper are tired and boring- donkeys and elephants, etc... you often get the impression these cartoonists never really understand the stories and only know what's going on beyond the headlines. There are a good number of exceptions- Tom Toles, Mike Lukovich, Ward Sutton, Ruben Bolling, Tom Tomorrow, and some others. This is the latest collection of his strips, dealing with the past few years. Lord knows we needed the laugh. Since it's a book of cartoons, not words, the excerpt I will post will be a cartoon. This cartoon ran last year and is one of my favorites-

In conclusion- Buy these books. It gives you something to do on the john.